The plan is signed. The operator should already be in.
The value-creation plan is settled, but the person who must deliver it has not yet joined. A permanent search takes a quarter. The plan does not wait.
Where a hold loses its early months
Swiss mid-market holdings tend to meet these obstacles:
The first months go on searching
A permanent search eats the early part of the hold, when the plan matters most.
Owner-style reporting after the deal
An owner-run company reports the way it always has, and the sponsor needs a different standard immediately.
Founders and sponsors see two different companies
Every party has a fair point, and with no operator in the middle the gap between them becomes friction.
The need is real but not permanent
Following an acquisition, a systems rebuild or a carve-out, a senior operator is needed for a limited period and not indefinitely.
We embed operators into portfolio companies within weeks, on a services mandate that fits the hold period instead of fighting it. Use one for a defined workstream, a bridge to a permanent hire, or a test of what the company needs before you hire.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- Deploying a senior operator inside a portfolio company
- Executing a 100-day plan the moment the deal closes
- Value creation through the hold, not another advisory report
- Building reporting, systems and management credibility before an exit
- Operational diligence and leadership-gap assessment before you buy
Not for
- A strategy deck or set of recommendations to hand back
- A business that wants an adviser, not an operator inside it
- Pure diligence with no operator deployed afterwards
- A mandate for oversight rather than hands-on execution
Our role during the hold
A sponsor needs the seat filled and governed. We remain engaged with the board and the operator after the match.
Progress reviewed against the plan
We join the board's progress reviews and flag slippage against the value plan while the hold can still absorb it.
Depth for carve-outs
Carving out a business or rebuilding its systems is ground that colleagues in our collective of 800+ have covered, and the operator can draw on them.
A change of operator, handled
The engagement sits with the portfolio company. If the operator moves on, we hold the plan and the brief and run the replacement search and handover.
Matched to founder and fund
We match on the workstream and on the founder who may still be there. An operator neither side trusts costs the hold a quarter.
Across the PE investment lifecycle
From pre-deal to exit preparation.
Pre-deal: operational due diligence
Embed a Fractional COO or CFO to support your ODD. They identify gaps your model hasn't priced.
Post-acquisition: fill the leadership gaps
Begin deploying the right operator within days of instruction. No recruitment pipeline, notice periods, or trial risk.
Value creation: operational improvement
Build financial infrastructure, operating cadences, commercial engines, and professional people structures.
Exit preparation: build credibility
A Fractional CFO producing clean board reporting and investor-grade financials is a meaningful credibility signal in any sale process.
The value-creation matrix
Each value-creation lever maps to the operator built to own it. Most plans pull two or three at once.
Portfolio company leadership options
Match the right fractional operator to the specific portfolio company need.
Operating partners to
